02A New Blueprint State of Sales 15 Sales Becomes More Connected and Proactive While communicating across partner Sales Seeks to Drive Personalization at Scale experiences and on every channel is a key component of success — on average, sales Despite technology innovation expectations, customers still look for human connections. As a result, teams rate six channels as absolutely sales teams are finding the most success when they blend personal interactions with technologies critical/very important for connecting with that scale. In-person remains sales’ top communication channel for connecting with customers. customers — nothing yet eclipses the impact of a human conversation. While many may Percentage of Sales Professionals Who Say It’s Absolutely Critical or Very Important to imagine a world where technology replaces Connect with Customers Using the Following Communication Channels* reps entirely, data shows that the desire for one-to-one human connection is still more powerful than technology innovation for its In person 87% own sake. Two-thirds of consumers, and 72% of business buyers say they are likely to switch Phone brands if they’re treated like a number instead 83% of an individual.** Email 78% Knowledge bases (e.g., FAQs, library Spotlight of information to search for and find answers from a company’s website) 54% Top Teams Scale Engagement with New Channels Self-service channels enable customers to engage on Online forums their terms and seek human interaction when needed. 45% Online Communities Knowledge Bases Social media High Performers vs. Underperformers 44% Online communities (e.g., interacting 2.7x 1.9x with other customers) 43% more likely to say absolutely critical or very important Mobile app, including the ability to contact sales, service, support, etc. 42% * This chart is a partial list. For the complete list, see page 45. Salesforce Research ** “State of the Connected Customer,” Salesforce Research, October 2016